Shurely “A reference to a twenty year old parody of an alternative scene in a sequel to a parody of a b movie”.
I really hope they’ve updated their riffs on other-similarly genre’d games as well.
– “That’s one dead space marine”
– “I don’t see no crisis here”
– “I ain’t afraid of no rage”

I’m with you on that.
Although I’m kind of looking forward to the ‘gun’s WIT on it. If there really is a good game in it, it should be judged fairly and maybe there’s an in-universe explanation or whatever people nowadays use as an excuse for cognitive dissonance. But if they use Dukeisms solely as a smoke screen to hide a crappy game behind, well…

Not to mention people here taking themselves too seriously. Every single time there’s a Duke Nukem post there’s always a rake of whingers telling us how they’re too mature for this and how Duke is out dated and blah blah blah. I for one welcome Dukes sexist sillyness, adopted catch phrases and kick ass early 90s attitude. You’re too good for this gritty post 911 world Duke.

It’s adorable and also kinda sad the number of people who cling, almost religiously, to a game purely because of the name… vowing, come hell or high water, to purchase the game on Day 1, despite not having read any reviews, or played a demo.

Indeed, since Duke3D was one of the most innovative titles of its day, featuring more things in it than most other games these days even dream of, and still managing a coherent whole. The perfect mix of oldschool gameplay and innovative features. Exploration levels, violence, some humor, and general awesome weapons and feel, it was the king of singleplayer shooters. Multiplayer was just sort of ridiculous for a good fun time while drunk. Not competition friendly. But fun.

And people go all “buuuhuu duke3d was all about tits and lude voiceovers” yea, well if that’s all you can say about Duke3D, you never actually played it. Probably cause that “18” sticker on it kept your mommy from letting you buy it :p

You see 1 person here perhaps, but I’ve seen more than 1 person on comment threads on RPS saying “It’s Duke, it’s a must buy!”.

Besides, all I was trying to say with my comment is that, yes we do have people who want to tout their opinion that Duke is dated, cliched, a throw back to an earlier time, and they’ve outgrown it… but, we also have people who are going to buy the game blindly, based purely on the name itself, and their fond memories of Duke3D.

My apologies then… I turned my omnipotence off for a while (it makes winning at Stratego no fun at all) and so was unaware of every single game you’ve played, and what you had for breakfast, and the fact your favourite band is Supertramp.

Fair enough though, you’ve played the game, you know what it’s like. It doesn’t change my point… there are people who will be crying “Boobies? Mysogyny? No thanks… it’s 2011, this game is so OLD” (as you said in the OP). And then there will be people who will say “It’s DUKE! Risen from the flames, resurrected, reborn and now with proper 3D Boobies!”. To me they’re two sides of the same coin. Both of them are ignoring the game itself, and looking at the package around it.

“Indeed, since Duke3D was one of the most innovative titles of its day,”

OK I’ve heard this a few times but I’ve never heard it explained. System Shock predates it by two years, Ultima Underworld predated it by four years, Quake 2 (which included full mouse support) came five months later including fully 3D models and mouselook.

Engine tech wise it didn’t bring a lot to the table, that’s right. But compared to doom, the status quo of FPS at the time, the environments were seemingly a lot more interactive and the level design was just better.

Edit: also, that’s quake 1 that was released in June 1996. DN3d was a january release of the same year.

@stahlwerk
You saying the environments were more interactive than System Shock or Ultima Underworld? Also my bad about Quake 2/Quake mix up. Either way if Duke 3D was revolutionary in any way it was definitely surpassed by the games from the year after.

hm, no, I’d say dn3d is not in the same genre as ss/uo. Environmental interactivity in dn3d is mostly incidental or tangential to other activities since it’s an FPS, while in an FPRPG you need to utilize and learn your environment on a more involved level.

I’d summarize it as saying that DN3D taught the lesson that developers are allowed to fill an FPS world with (the illusion) of RPG interactivity without detracting from the fun and maybe even adding to it.

If you rate games by the developers’ pretense towards ‘high art’ or their technical aptitude, then yes, Duke3D’s 2.5D engine and sophomoric humor, along with similar games made at the same time like Shadow Warrior, Carmageddon and Leisure Suit Larry, are an evolutionary cul-de-sac.

If you rate games by design predicated on and centered around entertainment – and who only innovate in the direct service of entertainment (so no tech demos masquerading as games, for instance) – then Duke3D was one of the greats, and we should laud and thank 3DRealms for remembering first and foremost that we’re playing games, here.

GTA3 and 4 fell flat, to me, compared to GTA1 and 2 because they took themselves way too seriously, and because of this left open a gap that Saints Row stepped in to fill. The CoDs and BFs of the world have over-inflated opinions of themselves, and we have games like Serious Sam because of this (not to mention the endless zombie shooters that come out like clockwork nowadays).

Sometimes you need to just have a but of stupid fun, and damn the naysayers.

If you think GTA 3 and 4 took themselves seriously then I would say you weren’t paying attention or were rather stupid.

Judging by the fact that you thought Saints Row was both good and funny, I’m thinking you are stupid.

Seriously people, I get that games are subjective and all, but Saints Row was bad on a technical level in every single way. I don’t see how anyone over the age of 13 could possibly find Saints Row anything other than unbearable in every way.

Indeed, since Duke3D was one of the most innovative titles of its day, featuring more things in it than most other games these days even dream of, and still managing a coherent whole.
-PoulWrist

It’s big innovation was simulating plane over plane maps using hidden teleporting, a few tricks with mirrored enemy placement and clever map design. The shrink ray was a bit novel but other than that it was doom 2 but funny and cruder. I recall only a brief period where my friends were all over it then we all transitioned to quake en mass when it came out. The Duke sequels were mostly garbage cash grabs.

DN: Forever looks to be much the same. Buy it for the nostalgia if you like. I’ve bought plenty of mediocre things purely because of nostalgia like Dawn of Mana, Children of Mana, FFXII, Doom 3 etc… so it would be silly of me to cast aspersions on people who do so but we have to place it in context. Duke3D was a decent stepping stone in the evolution of the FPS but it’s much less important in the whole grand scheme than wolf 3d, doom, quake, Golden Eye, Counter Strike, half life or Halo.

Have you played GTA1 and 2? Did you remember its emphasis on just grabbing flamethrowers and killing civilians for the hell of it? And entirely devoid of the sorts of pseudo soul-searching both CJ and Niko were guilty of… while they were roasting civilians with flamethrowers.

If you’re going to dismiss stupid-fun games as puerile, at least acknowledge that the ones you contrast with them are just as puerile, but aren’t being honest about it.

So much complaining in here, jeez. Day 1 purchase for me as well cause I’ve been a Duke fan since I was a little dude and have thorougly enjoyed every Duke title I’ve played. The trailers make this look fun as hell too soooo I’m gonna buy this.
No, I do not need a demo or reviews for this. You just need to have some pattern recognition… all Duke games that were made by 3D Realms/Apogee have been great, Manhattan Project was great fun, 3DRealms and Gearbox have made tons of fun games,… Just in my opinion of course.
I think this is a pretty solid reasoning to justify a blind purchase of DNF, no?

Sheesh, guys, I don’t care about the name of the game, it just looks fun! If you take all the stupidity of the game seriously then perhaps lighten up a little bit? Or maybe the game just isn’t for you.

@Unaco
You’re saying you only buy games that have good reviews? You only buy games that have demos? So you’re basically a mong..?
While I respect the opinions of game critics/reviewers/TB opinions are all they can offer.
Tell you what might be best if you plan on sticking to your “i’m too grown up for obvious OTT testosterone tit games” would be only to ever read/listen too reviews by yahtzee you can then be sure that you won’t have to buy another game again! Super!

I’m not disputing that it’s intended as satire, but being satirical doesn’t automatically mean inoffensive. My point is only that there’s no reason to belittle people for showing concern along those lines. I don’t consider sexism to be a minor issue in this industry, so I’m happy to see it discussed.

I honestly don’t expect the game to be bad in that respect, and I willl in fact almost definitely be picking this up, but the promotional material has massively played up the misogynistic aspects of it, and I think it’s fucking great that people should worry about that.

I don’t care much how offensive a game is, as long as people can put it down and not bring it into the real world. I’m against sexism etcetera, etcetera, but in a game, film, book I don’t mind enjoying it every now and then. I just leave it as soon as I stop playing, watching, reading whatever it is.

In short; let people have their fun, not matter how deprived it is as long as they keep in the game/book/film.

Now that I’ve witnessed the “WTF is Duke Nukem Forever Demo” youtube video, I am cautious to say the least. No mighty boot, aggravating weapon limit and mediocre health systems has wounded my belief in this game. I hope the party responsible for this atrocity suffers shame and regret for the rest of their lives ( or until they’ve patched the issues, weapon limit and mighty boot should be trivial fix).

You can buy a legit copy of anything you like without any check, or at least in my young times it was the case, besides, steam.

And frankly I don’t think they missed their target demographic, their target audience are the old fans of duke nukem and some people that have just heard about it as a legend, plus maybe some people bored with the FPS we get nowadays. Meh, besides, I am not over some of the jokes in the game and, obviously, it is self aware. I find the fact that Duke’s lifebar is his “Ego” hilarious.

Duke is the PERFECT antidote to all the po-faced, serious games that expect people to take their hokey, cliché’d plots about alien invaders seriously! He takes your Half Lives and your Gears of War and launches them into orbit with a titanic kick of his boot while laughing uproariously!

I don’t care one jot about Duke, and find its pureile nature offputting, but I really want it to turn out to actually be great as some kind of “fuck you” to 3D Realms, because they should have finished this game when I was young enough to find the boobs and dumb jokes entertaining. I totally lusted after DNF when they released that screenshot of the octopus-type creature.

(It is ironic because your statement was, essentially, “I dislike people who think they are better than other people, I am better than them”, considering the fact that ‘Holier-than-thou’ is meant as an insult or put down.)

Looking forward to the WIT and the subsequent shitstorm in the comments.

If it’s as good as Duke Nukem 3D, I’ll buy it just for the sake of some mindless, politically incorrect fun. Now please note the “as good as DN3D”. Duke 3D had some cleverly constructed levels, an interactive environment like barely any game before, great weapons and a multiplayer mode that was fast-paced fun. I don’t deny that some nostalgia might be involved, but Duke 3D was more than tits and one-liners – it was one of the best single player shooters of its time.

true. the level of interaction in the levels still is unbelieveably diverse. all the little things… you could play pool, play on arcade consoles (almost ;) ), start a cinema projector, interact with a cash register, blow walls up, push buttons to open secret doors… and thats just level 1, l.a. meltdown.

do you know any other game where you can give a dollar bill to a stripper? pff, i dont think so. and thats what duke is all about.

i actually dreamed about it last night i remember. i was in that game that was supposed to be duke nukem i think. i didnt shoot anything and there wasnt (sadly) any boobs involved, but i could interact with everything i saw.

DukeNukem Forever… or DXIII. No contest, I am gonna wait until DNF is past the hype and cheaper. It is very much the battle of the intellectual (ok for a computer game) DX vs the knuckle-dragging DNF. Popularity wise, no contest, boobs win over conspiracy every time.

Can’t speak for the other “po-faced” “holier-than-thou” readers, but I’m just tired of debating, since I feel like I have already said all I wanted to say in the last preview/trailer posts. And while I’m still not fond at all of the way this game’s PR is handled, I’m anticipating the release for all it’s inherent absurdity. I mean, come on, it’s Duke Nukem Forever. The fact it’s actually being released is the vaporware equivalent of a flying pig.